The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, amid an unprecedented public health crisis and a change in leadership, weathered 2020 by moving its operations, for the first time, nearly fully remote.

With COVID-19 cases on the rise in mid-March, Second Circuit Judge Robert A. Katzmann ordered the circuit’s Lower Manhattan courthouse closed to the public, and announced the court would be suspending its long-standing tradition of hearing in-person appeals. For the first time, he said, oral arguments would instead be livestreamed to the Second Circuit’s website, with participants calling in from home.